Good morning... When life crumbles all around us, we cling to the God who gives us breath. During our Friday morning class, I read aloud these convicting words. ****** Excerpt from Paula D'Arcy's Seeking God With All My Heart On retreat in Indiana, I listened to a tape recording of a talk by Henri Nouwen. Nouwen was challenging [...]
Good morning... What is God saying to you from the gaping hole between us? This is what I hear right now from my side of the gap. God lives on my side and God lives on yours. Leaning into our LORD, we are buffered by God's living love. You are not designed to meet my needs and I [...]
Good morning... I sit at a red light behind this bumper sticker: "Neither one 2016." My mind yearns to exchange this old sticker with a new one: "All of us 2016." I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s [...]
Good morning... Often the truth God teaches me daily, personally is echoed in the online meditation I receive from the Henri Nouwen Society at 5:05 am each morning. Yesterday was no different. I put a microphone to God's whisper, "Blend your 'being' with your 'doing' so all becomes an energizing prayer." Then I opened Nouwen's 11.17.16 devotional: "All Jesus' [...]
Good morning... Usually I am not a list maker. But yesterday when I happened upon a few open hours, I prayerfully doodled a list and happily discerned my most pressing "have to's." Bank. Grocery. Flower shop. Goodwill. UPS. Gas station. Check. Check. Check. Tons of important tasks delightfully accomplished. As a person who focuses much of my energy on [...]
Good morning... As Hillary Clinton stood in purple at the podium giving her concession speech to our nation, she referenced a familiar Bible verse: Let us not become weary in doing good. Later scouring Scripture, I found my way to the reference and to it's biblical context. Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a [...]
Good morning... I prayed in bed for a long, long time before getting up to make coffee. I fell asleep last night to the din of election results, rolling in, rolling in, neck and neck. Strangely, right now I am savoring not knowing who won, sort of like when I was pregnant and did not know the answer, "Boy [...]
Good morning... "What a privilege," I thought to myself as I stood 38th in line, waiting for the polls to open. Calm was the crowd. Spouses chatted quietly. Neighbors caught up. How grateful I am for our peaceful process of electing our next President, our supporting Senators, and our community's Congressmen. No violence. No protests. No taking political matters [...]
Good morning... Driving somewhere in the middle of Alabama, I was singing songs to the company of the Christian radio station. To my amazement, the Scripture verses which had greeted me in the morning came through my car speaker to bookend my night. Before the rising of the sun, God had drawn me to this unfamiliar-to-me passage during my [...]
Good morning... Speaking light into the formless dark, God creatively gave order to life's chaos. As we read the first chapter of Genesis, verbs tumble all over us. God saw and separated. God called and said. God made and named creation "good." Then the land itself creatively cooperated, producing and bearing, plants and trees. The expansive sky also joined [...]
